Apophis asteroid could smash into Earth in 2036

The Russian scientists are basing their predictions of a collision on the chance that the 900-foot-long (270 meters) Apophis will travel through what’s called a gravitational keyhole as it passes by Earth in 2029. The gravitational keyhole they mention is a precise region in space, only slightly larger than the asteroid itself, in which the effect of Earth's gravity is such that it could tweak Apophis' path.

“The situation is that in 2029, April 13, [Apophis] flies very close to the Earth, within five Earth radii, so that will be quite an event, but we’ve already ruled out the possibility of it hitting at that time,” Yeomans told Life’s Little Mysteries. “On the other hand, if it goes through what we call a keyhole during that close Earth approach … then it will indeed be perturbed just right so that it will come back and smack Earth on April 13, 2036,” Yeomans said.

http://ready2beat.com/technology/science/will-apophis-asteroid-hit-earth-2036

 

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I'm glad to hear that this is being taken seriously and organisations like NASA are considering ways of changing the orbit of this potential impacter.

This particular asteroid / impact scenario was covered on the History Channel's The Universe: Most Dangerous Places documentary. Apparently, in 2029, assuming it's course has not already been altered, this asteroid will pass so close to the Earth that it will be clearly visible to the naked eye.

 

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it seems they are planning a mission

 

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